This invention relates to board games and the like, and more particularly relates to board games using tokens with values of variable significance.
It is well known that board-type games have long been designed to employ a balance of both skill and chance, and that such games may therefore be used to provide both instruction as well as amusement. It is also well known that a board-type game may be targeted toward a particular class of player by selecting that balance of skill and chance. A game which is intended for children will tend to emphasize the chance factor, whereas a game which is designed for more mature players may emphasize the player's ability to perceive and comprehend abstract mathematical or other similar relationships which tend to occur on a random basis.
A further variation on this concept is apparent with games of this type which are further designed to simulate, or at least suggest, actions and conditions which commonly occur during participation in some real life endeavor or activity. It is well known that the game of chess is designed to be suggestive of military combat, although chess actually requires the participant to comprehend and make decisions solely on the basis of changing geometric relationships.
The well known game of "Monopoly" is designed to simulate and encourage interest in investment in real estate and other like properties. In contrast with chess, this type of board game subjects the player to random situation changes whereby the player is required to make judgments, not on the basis of controllable but abstract geometric relationships, but on the basis of probabilities involving random changes in simulated situations involving real estate investment. In this sense, it will be apparent that when the rules and design of the game involve a combination of both chance and skill, the balance between these two conflicting aspects will be significant in targeting players of a particular level of educational development. In addition, however, it will also be apparent that, when the game is designed to simulate the details of a real life activity, the educational aspects of the game is often enhanced. If the conditions being simulated are sufficiently realistic, a player may acquire a degree of skill and knowledge appropriate to actual participation in the business or activity being simulated by the game.
For example, it is well known that staff officers in many military establishments are regularly trained in part by the use of extremely realistic board-type "war games." In the case of most popular board-type games, however, the real-life situations are not that realistically simulated, and thus most popular board games are merely expected to acquaint the player with the existence and certain elemental aspects of the activity being simulated. To the extent that such games significantly extend the intellectual capacities of the player, it is in the degree that the player subconsciously or indirectly improves his capacity to recognize and make appropriate decisions involving the abstract relationships such as those hereinbefore mentioned. Nevertheless, it will be recognized that the character and type of real-life situation being simulated are suggested, will often serve to attract the interest of many players, and that the design of the game also involves a careful balance between the manner of simulation or representation of that situation and the presentation of the geometrical or other concepts which provide the true challenges to the players.
Many board-type games have been proposed and designed to satisfy one or more of the purposes and objectives hereinbefore mentioned, but in all cases at least one of these purposes has been sacrificed or ignored in order to effectively achieve one or more of the others. As hereinbefore noted, so-called "war games" and the like have been devised which can effectively train the player to effectively perform when actually placed in the situation being simulated by the board game. However, not only does such a game require advance preparation and training merely to be effectively "played", such a game rarely has any entertainment value outside of those having a professional interest in the activity being simulated.
Alternatively, there can be no denial that a board game such as "Monopoly" will have broad appeal and entertainment value for many different types and ages of players, and that such a game may be effectively played with a minimum of advance instruction or preparation. However, a board game of this type has comparatively little instructional value, in that the real life situation being simulated (real estate investment) is not realistically depicted or represented, and because the balance between skill and chance is overwhelmingly tilted in favor of random changes in the situations facing the player. More important, there is little clear relationship between the details of business being simulated, and the type of challenges being presented to the players of such a game.
These deficiencies and limitations in the prior art are overcome with the present invention, and a new and improved board-type game is now provided which has appeal to broader classes of players, and which nevertheless provides effective educational value to the broad variety of players sought to be targeted.